Go West, Young Man
by Doctor McFly
Summary: Episode Three: The Doctor and Marty arrive in the old west. They're too late to find Doc Brown, but just in time to solve the mystery of an entire family going missing. And who is that familiar young woman? TBC in Episode Four: Zombie in Z Minor!
1. The Rifle

(Welcome to my episodic crossover fic. This is episode three, and while you can start reading here, you might want to visit my profile to get the whole story with Episode One: Frozen in Time)

Back to the Doctor

Go West, Young Man Part 1

Saturday

October 26th

1895

The farmhouse was dark, and quiet. John lay in his cold bed, listening to the soft breathing of his wife next to him. Dawn was still at least an hour away, but his body knew it was time to get up, time to go out and milk the cows. He shuddered in anticipation of the cold, then threw off his heavy quilt and stepped into his slippers.

He quickly fell into his familiar routine, dressing with only the moon to see by. He had always been terrified of waking his wife, and as he would make his way down the hallway he would wince every time a floorboard creaked, worried one of his children would hear and get up.

John had been raised not to be a bother to those around him, and he had spent his entire life tiptoeing around his family, becoming the shadow of a father instead of a real one to his sons.

Once outside he grabbed the lantern hanging on the porch and lit it. The air was still and damp and John hugged his jacket closer to his body for warmth. The barn he walked to was just as silent as the house behind him, and as John reached for the barn door he felt slightly uneasy. Cows always stirred when they heard someone coming, but as he pushed the wooden door open it remained perfectly silent inside.

He didn't realize what he was seeing at first. He hung up the lantern like he always did, but as he took a step towards the sleeping cows he nearly tripped over something. He looked down and saw the tiny calf lying by the door, only it wasn't asleep at all. Its eyes were open, empty things, and its tongue hung out of its mouth.

Dead.

Now John looked at the other cows, really looked. They weren't sleeping, not a single one of them. They were all dead. He couldn't explain it, there was no evidence of violence or anything, but every creature in that barn was lifeless. It really could only be one thing, some kind of disease.

He ran back to the house, his caution from before gone. The door banged loudly against the wall and he ran up the stairs.

"John, that you?" He could hear his wife's voice and in the children's room one of his sons had begun to cry.

"Get up!" John ran into his room as his wife lit a candle.

"What is it?" She had never seen her husband look so shaken before. It was more than unsettling.

"The cows, they're dead – all dead!"

"But, what are you talking about? How could that be?"

"It could be-"

"Papa?" One of his sons wandered next to him, rubbing his eyes, John pushed him aside and took a step towards his wife.

"They might be diseased."

Coming from downstairs, they suddenly heard the sound of a door slamming.

"What was that?" His wife asked.

John turned his eyes to the stairs. He couldn't see the door from this angle.

"Stay up here," John whispered, taking the candle from his wife.

His shotgun, where was his shotgun? He had had it last night – of course, he had left it by the front door. Which door had slammed? Maybe it was just the wind catching the door he had left open. But, there hadn't been any wind when he had been outside.

"Hello?" He called down from the top of the stairs, his three sons huddled behind him, his wife grabbing onto their tiny shoulders, trying to keep them upstairs.

He took a step down the creaking stairs.

"I'm armed," he lied and his voice wavered.

There, there was a noise, something shuffling. Walking? Had an animal got in through the open door?

Once at the bottom of the stairs he could just make out the shape of his riffle leaning against the front door, at the end of the hallway. There was no sign of anyone or anything inside the house, but now he was certain he had heard something.

He couldn't count the times he had walked down this hallway, but it had never felt this long before. Every time he passed a doorway he turned, expecting something to jump out at him, and every time it didn't happen he only became more nervous.

Finally he stood in the living room, the riffle only a few paces away, and-

The silence was suddenly cut off by a high-pitched squealing noise, like a train at full speed suddenly applying the brakes. John swung around to see what had made the noise, to see what was in the living room with him, but he turned too fast. The candle went out, and John was alone in the dark.

No, not alone, he could hear something else breathing in that room.

"John? What's going on?" His wife's voice called him.

"Who's there?" John nearly spat. "I can hear you. Show yourself, coward."

There was a strange chirping noise, and suddenly the room was filled with bright light, brighter than the sun at high noon. John held up his arms, trying to shield his eyes from the blinding light, and as they slowly adjusted he started making out figures, tall men standing in his living room, shining this light on him.

He turned his head, and there was his riffle. If he jumped, he could reach it in one step, he could just reach out and grab it.

"John! Say something!"

He jumped, but never made it.

**To Be Continued…**

(Last episode it took me until the last chapter before I had to change the rating to T, this time I'm not leaving any pretenses. This episode is extremely lively to dive right into the dark horribleness that resides in my mind. I don't know how serious people take the ratings on this site, but I kinda like trying to figure out exactly where my fic fits into ratings. Also, figuring out day was what over 100 years ago can be… trying. God bless the Internet for having useless contraptions to calculate these kinds of things. This chapter was shorter than I wanted it to be, but my main focus was to get the mood right and not pad it. Hopefully I at least succeeded in that.)


	2. Daisy

Back to the Doctor

Go West, Young Man Part 2

"So…" Marty cleared his throat. "When that alien said you weren't human…"

"Yes?" The Doctor's head popped up from beneath the consol. He was trying to fix something, something with a long name Marty wouldn't be able to remember if someone had a gun to his head and told him his very life depended on knowing what it was called. What Marty did know is that its only purpose seemed to be to explode and that the TARDIS didn't work without it.

"Well… what did he mean?"

"That I'm not human," his head disappeared again.

"Now, Doc, I get what you're saying," he walked around the consol until he was standing over the Doctor. He didn't like this side of the consol, this was the side Jennifer was on, and it took every ounce of will power for Marty to concentrate on the Doctor and not the flimsy sheet that hid Jennifer from his view. "But, you are human, right? I mean. You look exactly like me. Well, _exactly_, but human anyway. You look human."

The Doctor looked up. "You look Time Lord."

"Of course," Marty said slowly, uncertainly.

"No, you do. We came first."

Marty scratched his head. "So… you're an alien. From the planet…?"

"Gallifrey."

"Ah, so not in Australia after all," Marty wanted to laugh.

"You think it's weird that you hitched a ride with a very clever alien who owns a time machine?"

"I didn't hitch a ride. It's not like I stuck my thumb out and you beamed me up."

"Beamed you up? Don't be ridiculous and hand me the wonrangle."

Marty looked at the incomprehensible tools strewn about the consol.

"Uhh…"

"The long one with the three semi-circles."

"Whatever," Marty picked up the wonrangle and handed it to the alien in the blue pinstripe suit. "And no, you being an alien is not weird. You being an alien makes sense… a lot of sense. What's weird is that there's an alien race that looks exactly like humans."

"We're nothing like humans."

"How are you not like humans?"

"We're much cleverer," the Doctor got to his feet, finishing his work on the TARDIS with a triumphant smile. "And we have two hearts. Now, let's go grow with the country!"

OOO

The dust on the street kicked up as a whirl of wind disrupted the calm day. It was early in the morning, the streets were mostly empty, and no one was around to hear the struggled breathing of the TARDIS or witness it apparate in the alley next to the saloon.

The blue doors opened and the Doctor stepped out, taking a deep breath in and digging his hands into his jacket pockets.

"Ah, the old west! Can you smell that Marty? Adventure awaits."

Marty poked his head out. "It smells like manure, Doc."

"Well, whoever said adventure smells like daisies?"

They both stepped out into the warm morning. "Should we change or something?"

The Doctor looked at Marty in his jeans and jean jacket and himself in his long brown duster. "Why? We'll fit in well enough."

"What about the TARDIS? That definitely doesn't fit in."

"No one will notice. It has a perception filter around it. People only see what they want to see, and a perception filter makes people not want to."

Marty almost started to ask how a perception filter worked, but stopped himself before the Doctor could begin yet another techno-babble tangent. Then he remembered the locator trinket he had bought in the Final Marketplace. He had nearly forgotten about it after the insanity of escaping from the Cyberman. Finally he could test it out.

"What's that?" The Doctor asked as Marty pulled the golden charm out of his pocket.

"A location charm, or something."

"A location charm? Ugh, those are so boring. Where's the fun in exploration when you always know where you are?"

"And where am I?"

"Hill Valley," came the sweet voice of the charm as the Doctor opened his mouth to answer.

"Charm wins," Marty smiled and pocketed it again.

"Charm does not win. Charm is boring. Can't even tell you the time!"

"What time is it, anyway?"

"1885, some time in October."

"I think you mean 1895," a young woman's voice interrupted.

The two men turned their heads to see the girl leaning against the saloon staring at them inquisitively. She was slightly shorter than Marty, but looked to be the same age. She wore a long faded purple gown with a silk purple ribbon in her jet-black hair. She looked tired, her eyelids hung low, as though she had been up all night, but they made her look as though she were giving them a sheepish grin with her eyes.

Marty wanted to say something, tease the Doctor, say hello, something, anything, but he saw her soft brown eyes he couldn't even breath anymore. Those were Jennifer's eyes. That was Jennifer's face. Jennifer's body. Jennifer's cleavage threatening to burst out of that dark corset with every breath. Marty felt dizzy.

The girl laughed. "You boys lost?"

"Nn," Marty managed to choke the sound out.

"What my eloquent colleague means to say is, yes," the Doctor moved towards her, holding out his hand to shake, a winning smile on his face. "We're new in town."

"I can tell," she took his hand, amused by the gesture. "You sound like Brits."

"We are, and we're looking for a doctor-"

"A blacksmith," Marty found his voice, though it sounded weak and strained.

"A doctor of blacksmithing. Emmett Brown."

"Oh," she narrowed her eyes slightly, and her smile faded. "Mr. Brown?"

"You know him?"

"Sure, everyone knows him. He's a little… Well, different. Does he know you?"

"Old friends. I'm the Doctor, this is my companion, Marty. You are?"

"You can call me Daisy."

"Daisy, can you tell us where to find him?"

"Buy me a drink and I'll tell you whatever you want to know," she turned her back on them and nodded with her head towards the saloon. "C'mon boys, don't keep a gal waiting."

She started walking away and for a moment they could only stare at her and she walked away, her hips swaying with every step.

The Doctor looked at Marty. "You look pale."

"I feel pale."

"Come on, adventure beckons."

"I thought adventure smelled like manure."

The Doctor grinned. "Sure, but sometimes, adventure does smell like daisies."

"That's not funny."

"It's a little funny," the Doctor started walking towards the main street.

"No, Doc, that's Jennifer."

"Huh?"

"I mean: that's not Jennifer. It must be her grandmother or great-grandmother or something."

The Doctor saw Daisy disappear into the saloon.

"How can you tell?"

"You can't see the resemblance?" Marty peeked around the building, but Daisy was gone.

"Can't say I got the best look at Jennifer's face."

"I don't think we should talk to her Doc. What if we're talking and she's supposed to meet her future husband, and then she falls in love with the wrong guy and they don't kiss at the dance and I- Jennifer's never born."

"Uh… I'm sure it'll be fine," he walked away.

Marty grabbed for him but he was already out of reach.

"Doc. Doc!" Marty sighed. He had already decided he wasn't going to lose the Doctor again. He would have to take his chances in the saloon.

When he opened the brown washboard doors Marty was surprised how little had changed since he had walked through there 10 years ago – though only a little over a month had passed for Marty.

There was no one at the bar, though the same bartender, now with grayer hair, stood behind it cleaning glasses. Most of the tables were empty, but a few had drunks passed out at them.

Daisy had gone to a table by the window, she sat sideways in her chair, her legs pointing towards Marty and the Doctor, her right arm on the table, her chin resting on her hand as she grinned at them.

"I'll have a whiskey," she said softly.

The bar tender began pouring her a glass without even looking towards them.

"What about you?"

"I think we'll pass on the drinks," the Doctor sat down at the table across from her. Marty just stood there, unable to look away from Daisy.

"And your companion, was it?"

Marty cleared his throat. "We just need to find Doc Brown," he muttered.

"Is he really a doctor?" She turned towards the Doctor until she was sitting in the chair properly.

"So I've heard," the Doctor replied.

"Well, either way him and his family left here about a month ago. Just, up and disappeared one day. The whole town was talking."

"He's gone?"

"We've missed him," the Doctor frowned. He had really been hoping this wouldn't happen. He had entered the timeline now and going back on it could be disastrous. But what choice did they have? They had no way of knowing where else Doc Brown might be.

The bartender came over with the drink and whispered something into Daisy's ear.

"Yeah boss, I know," she sounded slightly annoyed.

He walked away and Marty sat down. "What, do you work for him or something?"

She laughed. "Yeah."

"Doing what?"

"About Mr. Brown-" The Doctor tried to interrupt.

"You don't know what I do?" Daisy purred.

"Are you a… dancer or something?"

"Marty, I'm not entirely sure-" The Doctor was cut off again.

"I'll tell you what, if you want to give me 10 cents I'll take you to a back room and show you what I do."

Marty felt like she had just kicked the chair from underneath him. "Are you a prostitute!"

"Oh dear," the Doctor sat back.

Daisy's mouth hung open in shock, and just as she was about to retort the door suddenly burst opened and a short, red-haired, distressed looking man ran in.

"McFly, what's the matter?" The bartender asked.

"McFly?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows. The man who had run in was practically the spitting image of Marty.

"Seamus?" Marty turned around.

"Is there a time rift around here I don't know about?" The Doctor asked no one in particular.

Seamus looked Marty over, half-recognizing him from somewhere, but then turned back to the bartender.

"I just came the Hochstrasser farm," Seamus began, speaking with an Irish accent.

"And?"

"And they're gone."

"Gone?" The Doctor chimed in.

"Not just them," Seamus turned his attention to the Doctor. "All their livestock. And… I think I saw blood in the house, but the door was locked, I couldn't get in. I came here for help."

"Two families vanishing in one month?" Daisy spoke up. "Hill Valley's gonna get a reputation."

"This is hardly related," Marty interjected.

"It isn't?" The Doctor asked.

"You think this is related?"

"You don't?" The Doctor stood up and walked over to Seamus. "Where exactly is this farm?"

**To Be Continued…**

(I'm not entirely sure how familiar you guys are with the titular quote, though I'm sure a couple of you put it through google. The full quote is "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country" and it was the title of an editorial written by American journalist named John B.L. Soule in 1851. History lesson over. Also, how excited was why to finally have the Doctor call Marty his companion? The answer is: very. The bit about the time rift is an inside joke, I guess. Go watch the last episode of Doctor Who series 4 and you'll get it. I hope you guys don't dislike Daisy. Despite her being a relative/clone of Jennifer, she is essentially an OC, and my first human one – which can generally generate contempt and hatred. I needed Daisy, because I need to find ways to keep Jennifer an actual character and one way to do this was to create a Shemp Jennifer. Why is she a prostitute? Well other than making Marty uncomfortable I also wanted to make Hill Valley a little dirtier. The Old West was not a family-friendly place most of the time, and Back to the Future Part III _really_ overlooked that.)


	3. A Debt to Pay

Back to the Doctor

Go West, Young Man Part 3

The three men began moving towards the door of the saloon, leaving the bartender behind, when Daisy stood up in protest. "Hey, you didn't pay for my whiskey!"

No one listened, there were more important things than a prostitute turning her trick. They started walking towards the sheriff's office.

"You gonna get Marshall Strickland?" Marty asked Seamus.

"Strickland?" Seamus looked at Marty oddly. "He was murdered, 10 years ago, by Mad Dog Tannen."

"He was?" Marty must have missed that. Last time he had been there Marshall Strickland had been alive and well.

"Don't I know you?"

"Yeah, actually."

"Clint, isn't it? It's hard to forget a name like Clint Eastwood."

"Clint Eastwood?" The Doctor tried to keep himself from laughing.

"We thought you were dead. That blacksmith said you went into the canyon with that train."

"Yeah, well, I made it out all right."

"Listen, Seamus," the Doctor stepped between them, dwarfing the two McFlys. "We're worried this family's disappearance might have something to do with…"

"An investigation of ours," Marty suggested.

"You with the Pinkertons?" Seamus asked.

"Couldn't tell you if we were," the Doctor smiled. "Either way, it's important we get to that farmhouse."

"Go if you want, I'm waiting for the sheriff," they had reached the door to the sheriff's office. It was locked.

"Why do people keep trying to call the police?" The Doctor muttered under his breath, clearly unimpressed. "Anyway, the sheriff's not in, but we are."

Seamus looked Marty over. "Why's there always trouble whenever you're around?"

"Just my luck," Marty tried to smile.

Marty's great-grandfather stared at him with a slightly troubled look in his eyes for a moment. "You look… the exact same," Seamus shook his head and turned back towards the Doctor. "I don't know what's going on, but I'll tell you how to get there. Take the east road out 10 miles. They're the only farm-house on that road with a blue door."

"10 miles?" Marty couldn't believe it.

"I'd give you my horse, but I need it myself. The livery's just around the corner," Seamus pointed back towards the saloon. "They'll give you a good deal."

The Doctor and Marty started walking away.

"Clint!"

"Yeah?" Marty turned around.

"Take care of yourself. My wife, she wouldn't forgive me if I got you two killed, especially after you just got back from the dead."

"Don't worry Seamus, I'll keep out of trouble. I haven't forgotten what you taught me last time."

He rejoined the Doctor.

"Do we have money for horses?"

"No, we have a TARDIS. Time and _space_-"

"Okay, Okay."

They turned the corner, and an angry looking Daisy stood in front of the blue box. Her arms folded, her foot tapping against the dust.

"Just what are you two trying to pull?" Her personality had taken a 180. Gone was her gentle laughing, half-closed lips and girlish smiles. Now she glared at them with a fury Marty remembered seeing on Jennifer's face during their last fight. That glare terrified Marty more than three generations of Tannens had ever been able to.

"Pull? We're not pulling anything," the Doctor tried his best charming smile, but she just scoffed at him and stepped up to Marty.

"You owe me for the whiskey."

"What? Why me?"

"Because you won't stop staring at me. You'll lucky I'm not charging you for how many times you've imagine f-"

"OKAY!" The Doctor said a little too loudly and happily. "Well we really must be off."

"Then I'm coming to."

"Uh," Marty and the Doctor looked at each other. There was no way they could go into the TARDIS and risk her following them. Never mind her reaction to the alien technology, what would happen if she found Jennifer?

"Yes well, we're going quite far."

"I have a horse."

"You do?" Marty asked.

"What? A whore can't own a horse?"

"I didn't say that."

"You wouldn't happen to have three horses, would you?" The Doctor asked with some trepidation.

"You've got some nerve mister!"

"Doctor," he coughed.

"We'll pay you," Marty offered.

"I know you'll pay me."

"For the whiskey, for the horses for…"

"Thinking about f-"

"Yeah, even that – though I didn't do it."

Daisy smiled, then spit on her hand and held it out to Marty. "Five dollars."

"Whatever," Marty spit on his own hand and shook hers, trying not to look disturbed by the action.

She almost bounced away.

"Is that even a good deal?" Marty asked the Doctor.

"For her? Yes. For us? Well…" He smiled. "We might as well give her 10."

OOO

Just down the street from the livery, on the outskirts of the small town, Daisy led them to a small house, with a little white-picket fence. There was grass on the lawn, but it looked like no one had cut it in quite some time and the windows had shutters closed over them.

"You live here?" Marty asked as they followed her into the yard.

"No," Daisy turned her face away. "This is the Brown's house."

Marty looked confused. "But why…"

She turned and Marty nearly bumped into her. "Because they might come back one day and god dammit their horses are still gonna be alive when they do."

Daisy trotted up the steps, then pulled a key out of her pocket.

"You know Doc Brown?" Marty smiled. Of course, it made sense. He would have realized who she was, not to mention what she did for a living. The Doc must have taken pity on her in some way, and in return she was watching his house until they returned.

"Miss Daisy," the Doctor began.

"Well you might as well call me Miss Parker if you're going to start getting formal with me," she unlocked the door and went inside.

"But Parker's Jennifer's last name," Marty mumbled.

"Well, prostitutes didn't normally marry," the Doctor shrugged.

Marty covered his ears and groaned. Jennifer was the descendant of some prostitute's bastard? "I am not hearing this."

"Just what is wrong with you two?" Jennifer glared at them from the dark. "Are you coming or not?"

Marty walked in and looked around the small house Doc Brown had spent 10 years of his life living with Clara, raising their two sons. It was strange to see so many unfamiliar things arranged in such a familiar way. Dozens of old (well, old to Marty) clocks lined the walls, strange inventions covered every space, in one corner Marty saw a pile of forgotten dog food. Still, there was a distinct woman's touch. The chairs and floors, despite now having a layer of dust, were all clean and inviting and for a moment Marty could almost picture the Brown family living there happily.

"Is this you?" The Doctor asked, looking at a photograph on the mantle. It was the same photograph Marty had a copy of in his room, him and Doc Brown standing next to Hill Valley's clock before it was placed in its tower. Some days Marty felt like his entire life was tied to that clock.

"Yeah, from my last visit here."

"And this would be your Doctor, would it?"

Marty smiled. "That's him."

Daisy cleared her throat. "Put that down, and come with me."

"Yes ma'am," the Doctor put the picture down and the two of them dutifully followed Daisy out back, to the small stable where four small horses were kept.

OOO

What with Marty's best friend being missing and possibly in grave danger, his girlfriend being frozen in time and her great-mother turning out to be a prostitute who was following them until he paid a debt he didn't owe; Marty was not in the mood to saddle up a horse and ride 10 miles to a farm where an entire family had mysteriously disappeared.

The Doctor, on the other hand, could not stop grinning.

"I should get a hat, don't you think? One of those great big cowboy hats?"

"Hats, you will need," Daisy rummaged around in the stable and produced two hats that looked closer to bowler hats than the stereotypical cowboy hat the Doctor so desired.

Daisy saddled all three of the small horses herself, then tied a bonnet to her head and got on. She made a clicking noise with her tongue and the three of them started out.

The Doctor took the lead, his sheer exuberance pushing his horse on. Marty fell back a little, not being terribly confident on a horse. Eventually Daisy fell back to ride with him, mostly to tease him, but eventually they started having a real conversation.

"You know," she smiled after a while, looking off at the clear blue sky. "I thought I recognized you from that photograph, but I just wasn't sure. When Mr. Brown disappeared like that…" she frowned.

"What?" Marty urged her on, actually wanting to speak to her for the first time.

She looked at him, and Marty still couldn't believe how much it felt like he was staring at Jennifer.

"I thought maybe he had gotten himself into trouble, had to go on the lamb. When you two asked about him, you scared me half to death. I thought maybe the trouble had finally come looking for him."

"To be honest, I think trouble may have already found him."

"So he really was running from trouble?"

"Actually, he left to go travelling. He couldn't have known what was waiting for him out there."

"Out where? Where did he go? Why didn't he-?" Daisy looked away.

"Didn't what?"

"It doesn't matter."

"If you say so…"

He looked back at him in a huff. "He used to always talk about going out in the world, travelling to places I'd never even read about and I guess… I thought… maybe he'd take me along," she began studying her thin hands griping the horse's reins.

Marty was speechless for a second. Of course the Doc wouldn't have taken her, not without risking the same thing Marty was currently terrified of – that Daisy might not have Jennifer's grandfather, that Jennifer in turn would cease to exist. How could he explain that to Daisy?

"You must think it weird that he befriended a prostitute," she bit her lip slightly, a trait he had seen Jennifer do a hundred times in class, "but I swear it were innocent. I thought it was weird at first, like he wanted something from me. You know. But he just… well, he was the only man who ever treated me like real person. I'm not mad he left me behind. Of _course_ he did, but if he's in trouble, I'll do just about anything to help him."

Marty could see a farmhouse on the horizon.

"Is that it?"

Daisy squinted. "Yeah, that's it."

"Hold up a minute," Marty pulled on the reins, making the horse kick a little, but it stopped and Daisy started at him expectantly. The Doctor was still making his way towards the farmhouse, joyfully trotting along on his horse.

"This might be extremely dangerous."

"I can handle dangerous."

"I'm not trying to say that you can't, but this is not your typical kind of dangerous, and it's really important to me that you stay safe."

Daisy smiled. "It's important to you? _Really_ important to you?"

Marty smiled awkwardly. "Not like that."

"Hey, it's okay. I'm gonna charge you for the deed anyway, we can always make good on the contract."

Marty winced. The idea of doing something with his girlfriend's great-grandmother that he hadn't even done with his girlfriend made him uneasy no matter how young and attractive said great-grandmother happened to be. "No, that's probably not a great idea."

"Yeah, well," Daisy sat back in her saddle. "Neither is me going back."

"Your boss won't be mad you're gone all day?"

"For 5 bucks? He'll let me take the week off."

"Jesus Jennifer…" Marty sighed.

"What did you just call me?" Daisy asked in a dangerously low voice.

Marty's eyes went a little wide. "I-uh, I mean. You just- what the hell is that?"

"I'm not falling for that cheap trick."

"No, really," and for once Marty really wasn't pulling a cheap trick. Out on the bare field there was something glimmering, something metallic maybe and completely out of place. Marty, quite ungracefully, dismounted and walked up to the wood fence along the road. "You see that?"

Daisy turned to look, but just shrugged. "So someone dropped something…"

"Maybe," Marty climbed over the fence. He didn't want to say what he was thinking. He didn't want to say he thought it might be part of a robot, a certain kind of robot that had put him into this predicament in the first place. "Wait here."

"The hell I am," Daisy dismounted and went after him.

"I am so glad your descendants are not this annoying," Marty muttered.

"Speak up, will you? Why are you two always muttering to yourselves?"

Marty reached the object first and stared down at it in confusion. At first it just looked like a slab of metal, but then he noticed the edges were blackened and jagged, as though it had been a part of something that had exploded. It was too big to be a part of the time-traveller hunting robot though.

"What is it?" Daisy asked, not terribly impressed.

"I don't know, but," Marty thought he saw another piece. He got up and started walking towards it.

"Where are you going now? I like these shoes, I don't want to get mud on them."

"Then go back to Hill Valley," Marty called back to her.

"Listen here Marty-"

Daisy never got a chance to berate him though, because suddenly the ground opened up and swallowed Marty McFly whole.

**To Be Continued…**

(Don't know what the Pinkertons are? Well I'm not going to bore you with another mini history lesson, so if you've never heard of them just go watch a western movie – any western movie – and you'll figure it out. I've been very self-conscious about swearing in this fic, not because I dislike swearing – far from it. It's just that these two series don't really use a lot of them. I think "shit" is about the worst we hear in Back to the Future. I'm essentially trying to slowly integrate them into this story. Unfortunately every time I write dialogue for Daisy she wants to swear, sigh. I hate it when characters have just as much control as you do. Some of you might be wondering why I'm taking so many liberties with Jennifer's ancestry when I didn't even want to give Marty a blood type. To put it simply, Jennifer is barely a character in the Back to the Future trilogy and I feel a lot more confident making her my own. That and I figured no one would really care what I did to Jennifer.)


	4. A Trail of Blood

Back to the Doctor

Go West, Young Man Part 4

Daisy stared at the space Marty had inhabited moments before in shock. He was gone, just… _gone_. Her senses came back to her slowly, like a spring tide, and she found the courage to take a step forward, and then another, and another, until she was running towards him – or where he should have been.

She almost didn't see the hole in time to stop, Marty certainly hadn't, or maybe it had been a sinkhole, just waiting for an unsuspecting traveller to walk over it. It didn't matter; the point was he had fallen. The tips of her shoes hung over the edge, sending sand down into the pit.

"Marty!" She called down into the darkness, straining her eyes to see what was down there, but it was just black. She could hear her own voice echoing back at her, but not a single reply from Marty. Was he unconscious? Dead? How far down was he?

She picked up a rock and held it over the edge. "Please don't let this hit him."

The rock tumbled from her hand and was snatched up by the darkness a moment later. She held her breath as she listened for the sound of it hitting the bottom, but there was nothing, and a minute later she knew there wouldn't be any sound. Wherever it had fallen, it was too far below for her to hear it.

"Marty!" She suddenly knew what she had to do, where she had to go. "I'll get help! If you can hear me, don't move! I'll be right back."

She turned and ran towards the only help she knew she'd get – the Doctor.

OOO

The Doctor noticed that Daisy and Marty had stopped following him and he could see her and Marty talking down the road. He was so close to the farmhouse, that blue door beckoned him and his curiosity – like always – got the better of him.

Besides, he was certain he wouldn't get into _too_ much trouble alone.

The front door was locked just like Seamus had said, which struck the Doctor was odd. A family in the middle of nowhere felt the need to lock their door? It was hard not to see the suspicion in that. Luckily, the metal lock was no match for his sonic screwdriver and a moment later the Doctor slowly opened the door and peeked inside.

"Hello? I'm the Doctor, anyone home?" The house was completely quiet and dim. He stepped inside and saw a riffle leaning against the door, which opened up into a living room.

Behind the couch, mostly out of sight from the window, was a puddle. The Doctor crouched down beside it and dipped his finger into it, bringing it to his nose. There was no doubt about it, it was blood, but that was the only sign in the room of a struggle. He scanned the room with his sonic screwdriver and to his surprise it was picking up a low level of radiation.

He followed the radiation trail to the back of the house, to the staircase that went to the upstairs floor, where that morning a mother had clutched onto her young sons in terror. Now, there was a stream of dry blood that had cascaded down every step, a pool next to the Doctor's converse shoes.

"DOCTOR!" Daisy ran in through the front door. "Doctor I need your help!"

The Doctor turned to her confused. Just once, just once he'd like to leave someone alone for a minute and not have something horrible happen while he wasn't looking.

"What's wrong? Where's Marty?"

"Oh my god, is that blood?" Daisy looked at the staircase in horror.

"That's not important, where's Marty?"

"He fell, into a well or a sinkhole or I don't know! But we have to help him!"

They turned back towards the front door and ran out of it, Daisy saw the second puddle of blood but ignored it this time, focusing on getting help to Marty. She wasn't going to let him get off the hook this easily.

"He fell over there," she pointed to the left, then started getting on the Doctor's horse.

"Do we need a horse?" The Doctor asked a little perplexed.

"Get on," she hissed.

The Doctor dutifully climbed on behind Daisy and with a kick of her heels the horse started off at a gallop, not onto the field, but onto the road back the way they had come.

"Where are we going?"

"The mine!" Daisy called over her shoulder.

They passed by the two horses Marty and Daisy had ridden, and they began galloping after them, a stampede racing to the rescue.

"What mine?"

"The mine that causes all the damn sinkholes!"

OOO

Marty's eyelids fluttered and somewhere – far above him – he could see a bright circle of light. For the briefest of moments he thought maybe it was the sun or the moon, it certainly looked the same size, but as his eyes adjusted to the darkness around him he realized it was the clear blue sky he had fallen away from.

Every inch of him hurt, and it was impossible to distinguish one pain from another. His neck was twisted at an odd angle, one of his arms was underneath him, numb, and his leg seemed to be jammed in between two rocks.

He gritted his teeth as he tried to untangle himself, feeling an incredible sense of relief that he could actually move all of his limbs – until he tried to move his right arm, then he called out in agony. He couldn't tell if it was broken, but he could feel the hot sticky blood covering it and with his fingers found a deep gash in his upper arm.

Before he tried taking off his jacket and treating the wound, he took a deep breath, trying to push the hurt down deep to somewhere it couldn't reach him, but every slight adjustment of his arm made him dizzy with pain. Once the jacket was off he used his teeth and his left arm to rip the rest of the sleeve off and made a very crude bandage over the gash.

There was no way in hell he would be able to climb up. Even if his arm weren't wounded, there'd be no way he could get a grip on the damp rocks. The idea of waiting there didn't appeal to him very much.

"Hey!" He called up, but there was no answer. "Daisy! Doc! You there?"

Nothing.

Marty began feeling around in the dark, and then he found an opening in the rock. He could feel a breeze coming from it, and it was big enough for him to easily get through. Still, there was hardly enough light to see by with a hole above him. What would it be like in a cave?

The only thing that scared him more than blindly walking into a dark cave was waiting at the bottom of a hole for help that might not come.

Marty eased his way through the hole. It turned down, going deeper in the earth, but he felt confident he could turn back if he changed his mind, so he plunged on.

He stood in the complete dark for a moment, only the sound of his breathing to keep him company, when he suddenly noticed his eyes were adjusting to the light. What light? Certainly not the light from the hole he had fallen through. So where was this light coming from? He could just make out a turn in the cave and he felt his way along the wall.

With every step the cave seemed to grow brighter, and now Marty knew he was walking towards a light source. Maybe there was an exit…

Marty stepped into the fiery light and his eyes went wide with shock.

The cave opened up before him into a large room, and there in there centre… for the first time in a long time Marty honestly couldn't believe what he was seeing. Five aliens, large bald green creatures with four arms and wearing silver suits were building something – what? a spaceship? – in a cave under _Hill Valley_. How the hell did aliens get into a cave under the town he had lived his entire life? Isn't this the kind of thing that generally got the rumour mill going? How do you miss something like _this_?

"You've gotta be kidding me," Marty muttered under his breath, but one of the aliens must have heard because it began to turn its head in Marty's direction.

He fell to the floor, rolling behind a rock to avoid being seen. After a few minutes passed he lifted his head a little to stare at the aliens again. They had gone back to working on the ship. He knew they must have had something to do with the disappearance of the family, but just as he was thinking of a way to get past the aliens and find the Doctor, he felt something roughly grab his hair and violently pull his head back.

The cold barrel of a gun was pushed against his temple.

"Don't move, ape," the alien grunted and Marty realized he was defenseless to do anything.

**To Be Continued…**

(The sonic screwdriver is the ultimate McGuffin, don't you think? But for a show that liberally uses the dues ex machina, a portable McGuffin can kind of be forgiven. I'm trying not to overuse it, but every once in awhile I think, fuck it, and let it do its thing. I don't have much else to say about this chapter, except that the more I write Daisy the more she grows on me.)


	5. Cowboys & Aliens

Back to the Doctor

Go West, Young Man Part 5

The mine stuck out of the hill like an open wound.

"They gave up on this mine a long time ago," Daisy pulled the reins on the horse and it came to a stop in front of the dark entrance. "But the damn thing just won't stop causing trouble."

The entrance led east into the hill, the same direction the farmhouse was from them, but the Doctor wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to navigate his way underground. "This might be a bit of an adventure."

Daisy looked up at him, a sly grin on her face. "I love adventures."

The Doctor couldn't help but smile back. "Then shall we?"

He dismounted and before he could turn to help her down she was already jumping from the saddle, gracefully landing on her feet.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began to scan the entrance.

"That's interesting…"

"What is? What is that?"

"I'm picking up some of the same radiation I found at the farmhouse."

She stared at him blankly for a few second. "What the hell is radiation?"

"It's, uh, not important. What's important is figuring out how to use these mines to find Marty."

"That won't be as hard as it sounds," Daisy walked towards the entrance where she pulled a lantern off the wall inside. She started to light it. "I know these mines fairly well."

"Really?"

She turned on him. "If I hear one sly remark about prostitutes and tunnels I will abandon you down there to rot."

"What? I-Why would I make any remarks about prostitutes in tunnels and… holes…?" The Doctor's mind trailed off and he cleared his throat. "Uh, why _do_ you know these mines so well?"

He followed her into the calm dark, the light from her lantern surrounding them, creating a small bubble of false protection.

"I was a child once, you know."

The Doctor looked Daisy over. She still looked like a child to him, but he thought it best not to say that.

"My parents could never keep me in one place for long," she smiled, lost in the memory as she spoke. "I were always running off, always looking for new places to explore, chasing after the boys, trying to join in their games. They wanted rid of me, so they dared me to go in here. This place has been abandoned longer 'n I've been alive. Well, them boys got rid of me all right, but I liked it here. I started coming here by myself, this whole world for me to explore. I'd spend the whole day here and come out at night, the stars above me and…"

"And what?"

"You'll laugh at me."

"I doubt it."

"I used to pretend every star had a planet just like ours, with people just like us, all of us staring at each other, only seeing tiny white specks in the black. I would pretend I could actually go and visit them. But, even if they were real, you can't go there, so I just had the mines to explore. I always figured it were just practice, for when I finally left this damn town."

"What happened? Why didn't you?"

She laughed. "My parents died, didn't they? Damn bastards had to go and get sick and didn't leave me half a penny. Now I _only_ get to explore caves."

Daisy looked at him.

"That was a joke."

"Ah…"

"It wasn't very funny."

"You could always leave, go out and live the adventure you've always wanted to."

"Would you take me with you?"

"Well, I-"

"I'm joking again. I'm not an idiot. I'm a whore, and I'll die a whore, in Hill Valley."

The tunnel split in two and without even pausing Daisy led them to the left. Suddenly a beeping noise came from the Doctor's pocket and he pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

"The radiation levels are increasing…"

"Really? Are you going to explain this radiation thing or not?"

"It's too complicated to explain to someone who doesn't know the first thing about atoms or molecular science, but I can tell you this: This radiation, it shouldn't exist here."

"California?"

"Earth."

"Well… where did it come from?"

"A meteor, maybe. Have you seen anything fall from the night sky?"

"My nights are a little occupied – but, no one was talking about anything strange. If something fell from the sky here though, the Hochstrassers would probably be the only people who saw or heard anything."

"I think maybe you should go back."

"Why? Is this radiation dangerous?"

"Not these levels, but it's not the radiation I'm worried about, it's whatever is making the radiation."

"What's making it?"

"Probably a class C spacecraft."

"Space… craft?" Daisy stopped walking and stared at the Doctor. "What?"

The Doctor scrunched up his face and sighed. "I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"You seem worried about it."

"I can follow the radiation trail, you should go back and check on Marty from above."

"I'll be more help here, with you!"

"Believe me, I am thankful for the thought, but you really will be more help to Marty."

"Why?"

"He might be hurt or scared, what I do know is that he's alone and-"

"It's terrible being alone," Daisy looked away.

"Yes…" the Doctor replied without even thinking about it. "It's the worst thing."

"Fine," she said after a moment, "but don't blame me if you get lost in here, or fall down some hole yourself and die… slowly – and horribly. And I'm taking the lantern."

The Doctor smiled, holding down a button on the sonic screwdriver, making it emit blue light nearly strong enough to overtake the lantern. "I can live with that."

OOO

The alien dragged Marty down towards the others. With four arms the alien was able to grip his hair, hold him by the shoulders, and hold a gun to Marty's head all at once. It shoved Marty to his knees in front of the others.

"Looks like I found a spy, brothers," the alien's low voice had a distinctly lizard like quality to it. It's voice sounded like it was hissing.

"I'm not a-" Marty tried struggling, but there was no use, and he held his tongue once he felt the gun dig deeper into his temple.

"Shut it," one of the aliens spat. "We knew it would only be a matter of time before you arrived. We've been waiting."

"Waiting for what?" Marty asked, gritting his teeth. The aliens had claws, he could feel them digging into his shoulders, and he really wanted to avoid getting torn to shreds by them.

"Don't play innocent!" One of the aliens stepped forward and backhanded Marty across the face. The force of the blow snapped his head to the side, but the alien didn't let go of his hair and he could feel some of it being wrenched from his scalp. "You think we wouldn't expect a second attack?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

They started laughing at him, and the sound chilled his blood.

"Really?" The alien hissed. "You claim ignorance to our attack, and yet you speak to us in our language – as though you have been studying us."

Marty looked at them with wide eyes. "This is a bit of a misunderstanding. I'm not speaking your language, I'm-" he didn't know how to explain that a time machine was psychically translating their speech to each other, and from the looks on their faces he wouldn't have to. These people were not going to believe a single word he said. They had already decided he was a liar. "I just fell down."

"And just happened to find us?"

"Hey, you found me."

One of the aliens leaned in holding some sort of handheld scanner. "Look at this," he whispered, and the other aliens leaned in to read his findings.

"He's not like the others," one of the aliens finally concluded.

"What others?" Marty asked.

"The other apes crawling above us," the alien leaned in close. "You're human, but… there's something _off_ about you."

The aliens looked at one and another.

"Dissect him."

"Come _on_," Marty renewed his struggle and got another yank on his scalp, then the alien started dragging him towards a slab of rock near the edge of the room. "Is the entire universe trying to kill me!"

**To Be Continued…**

(It was not my intention to have essentially the same cliffhanger twice – more on that in the next chapter's author's notes – but this is the price you pay for getting an extra chapter. At five chapters, this episode is already just as long as Alien Expectations was. What can I say? I have way more fun writing about prostitutes and the old west than space markets. It was only while writing this note that I realized the thematic similarities between a certain upcoming Daniel Craig film, which is where this chapter lovingly stole its title from. In the future, I really need to get away from halls and tunnels – though they are wonderful fodder for sexual innuendos. In the next episode I promise there will be no dissection and no halls. There will, however, be electric guitars and something that begins with Z.)


	6. TNT

Back to the Doctor

Go West, Young Man Part 6

Two of the aliens threw Marty onto the rock slab and held him down while a third approached with what could only be described as a jagged saw – probably something intended to only be used on a machine.

"Holy shit!" Marty squirmed. They weren't going to dissect him so much as cut him to pieces and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to get the benefit of an anesthetic.

"Ah, hello, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" The Doctor politely inquired from the cave entrance.

"Doc!" Marty couldn't help but smile.

"Oh great, another little ape," one of the aliens grumbled.

"Ah, Sylcrat, aren't you? The Doctor walked towards the half-finished spaceship in the centre of the cave, inspecting it as he nodded. "Class D, is it? But that wouldn't emit this kind of radiation…"

"So you do know who we are," the largest of the aliens, who must have been the commander, grunted.

"I've met your people, once or twice."

"You have studied us?"

"That's not… why do you leap to such conclusions? What are you doing here?"

"Exterminating your race."

"Come on, you didn't fly 63 light-years just to start a war. What are you really doing here?"

"You are correct Doctor, we did not come here to start a war. It was your people who attacked us. We came here on a scientific mission when the humans ruthlessly shot our ship out of the sky. Half my crew died instantly… five died much later from their wounds. We cannot allow this declaration of war to go unnoticed."

"You can't be serious! There's no way these people attacked you or tried to declare war with the Sylcrat!"

"We will not rest until every last Human on Earth is gone."

"Look, it's not that I don't believe you think this – and if this were 1995 and not 1895 I would even believe the humans had attacked you first – but they honestly don't have the technology to shoot you out of the sky!"

"We were shot down, we have the projectile!"

"What?"

The commander made a motion with his hands and one of the Sylcrat went to a large unordered pile of scrap and pulled out what looked like a metal torso. For a moment the Doctor had no idea what he was staring at, but slowly he recognized the craftsmanship. It was what remained of a robot, the same type of robot that had attacked Marty back in 1985.

"Ah, you have seen it before," the commander laughed at the look of recognition on the Doctor's face.

"Yes, because I'm trying to get rid of them."

"You sent this to attack us."

"Now look, that thing isn't even from Earth."

"We analyzed it. Even though we were attacked, we gave you Humans the benefit of the doubt. It comes from this planet."

"It does?" The Doctor shook his head; there were more important things to focus on. "But it doesn't come from this time."

The commander laughed. "Even if that were possible, what would it matter? A Human attack is _still_ a Human attack."

Three of the aliens began moving towards the Doctor, but he quickly pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at them.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!"

The commander began laughing, a sickening guttural sound. "You think you can fool us with a sonic device. We know that thing is harmless."

The Doctor shrugged, smiling awkwardly. "Well it was worth a chance."

"Detain him!"

The aliens jumped on the Doctor, pinning his arms behind his back, one of them grabbing him in a headlock.

"Great Doc, thanks for the rescue!" Marty continued his own struggle to get free. "I hope you have a plan B!"

"Plan? Who makes plans?"

Suddenly the sound of someone clearing their throat came from the entrance. Everyone's heads turned to look, and neither Marty nor the Doctor were surprised at this point to see Daisy standing in the entrance, holding a lantern in one hand and a short stick in her other.

"Well this is interesting…" She didn't look frightened. She barely looked confused. "Doctor, I decided to come back."

"Yes," the Doctor struggled to project his words while a Sylcrat had one of its arms wrapped around his neck. "I see that."

"Who the hell are these people?" Daisy held her lantern out before her, as though it could help to clarify what she was seeing. "What are you? Don't start telling me monsters are real, Doctor."

"Monsters?" The Sylcrat commander laughed. "How simple your people are."

"She clearly has no idea what you are, how can you think these people had anything to do with your ship crashing?" The Doctor was still not giving up the idea that he could talk his way out of this.

"Then why doesn't she look frightened of us?"

"Because," Daisy held up the stick she was holding, and Marty began to see its dusty red hue, "I'm holding a stick of dynamite."

"You fool! Do you want to kill us all?"

"If I had to. I overheard a great deal about wiping out all of humanity. The three of us seems like an acceptable loss if the lot of you are taken out."

"… What do you want?"

"First, let them go. Second, tell me what you are. Third, tell me what happened to the Hochstrassers."

"We are Sylcrat…" The commander said as he motioned for their prisoners to be released. Marty rolled off the rock and the Doctor was quickly by his side, helping him up.

"You what?"

"They're extra-terrestrials Daisy," the Doctor said as him and Marty made their way towards her, not looking away from the Sylcrat for a single instant.

"Extra what?"

"Space men!"

"Space men… from other planets in space?"

"Yes!"

Daisy became silent and for a moment the Doctor was terrified that some unseen Sylcrat has snuck up on her, but when he turned to look he saw she was still standing by herself, only now she was smiling, and her eyes seemed brighter, having become glossed over with tears.

"Doctor," her voice was barely above a whisper. "I knew it. I knew we weren't alone."

"You're never alone, Daisy," the Doctor said warmly, finally reaching her and putting his hand on her shoulder.

That seemed to snap Daisy out of her daze and she went back to glaring at the Sylcrat.

"What'd you do to that family?

"Ah, the cow farmers," the commander grinned, showing off two rows of spiked teeth. "Well, originally we wanted something to eat."

"You eat people!"

The commander looked disgusted. "No, we wanted the livestock… Where do you get such ideas?"

"But why kill the Hochstrassers?"

"Mostly to keep them silent, but also because we couldn't let so many test subjects to walk away. If you're going to commit genocide its best to know what the best method for this task is."

"You don't deserve to live," Daisy said calmly.

"That's hardly our decision to make," the Doctor began.

"You Humans can try to kill us all you want, but we will always come back and we will ensure that every last one of you is wiped off this planet for the insult you have given us!"

"You talk too much," Daisy held the dynamite's fuse over the flame in the lantern and it erupted into sparks of light. "Let's see if your feet run as fast as your mouth."

Daisy threw the stick, and her arm was impressive. The explosive flew above their heads, a shooting star in the night sky, and landed on the far end of the room.

"RUN!" Daisy and the Doctor screamed.

Marty felt Daisy jerked his arm, pulling him away from the room, and before he knew it the three of them were running through the cave, only Daisy's lantern to guide them, when suddenly there was a loud, muffled, boom.

**To Be Continued…**

(This was originally the second half of chapter 5, but as I wrote this episode the feel of the ending completely changed and I needed to drastically edit some things around. Again I ask why I even bother writing outlines… For a long time this chapter was just a patchwork of scenes with nothing linking them. It was one of those: "I know what needs to happen but can't quite figure out how to _make_ it happen" situations. I did always want to end it with Daisy going all Hayato Gokudera on us though and chuck a stick o' dynamite at the aliens.)


	7. Letters From Time Travellers

Back to the Doctor

Go West, Young Man Part 7

Marty, Daisy and the Doctor were thrown to the floor, the lantern shattered, but the cave continued to rumble and move.

"It's a cave in," Daisy yelled, pulling Marty back to his feet. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver for light and they kept running, dizzy and out of breath, rocks falling behind and beside them, each one seemingly only just missing them. Then, light, beautiful glorious light – the kind you could drink up and feel full on.

Marty's legs gave out and he let himself crumple to the ground, his breathing ragged.

"Oh my god, you're bleeding," Daisy noticed the gash on Marty's arm for the first time, his makeshift bandage haven fallen off somewhere during their mad dash to freedom. "Doctor, help him."

"I'd much rather have a real doctor," Marty muttered.

"I am a real doctor," the Doctor almost sounded hurt as he bent down and looked over his wounds. "But, uh, no harm in a second opinion."

OOO

Marty didn't sleep, but he dreamed. A fever of memories gripped his mind, memories spanning over a hundred years, and yet still somehow only a month. They collapsed together until he knew they were not so much ideas as a person in their entirety, compiling to a moment where he was sitting by a pond, leaning against a tree, Jennifer's head resting on his lap as she read a book.

"I keep having strange dreams," he said, looking down at her face.

And while it was Jennifer's face, there was something different – more wild – about her eyes and her hair was as black as the depth of space.

"Daisy?"

"Of course, silly. Who else would it be?" She smiled up at him, a smile that told him that she would never have a child, that Jennifer would never exist, that now and for the rest of his days he would be living with the guilt of-

Marty's eyes jolted open and he stared wildly around the room trying to get his bearings. He felt hot and dizzy and some rational part of his mind knew he was sick while the rest was trying to figure where – and when – he was.

"Doc?" He called out, the only word that seemed to have any meaning at this point.

"Hm?" A voice answered, and Marty felt something on his leg shift.

Marty looked down to see in the dim light a figure sitting next to the bed, their head nestled on his leg instead of a pillow. The head shifted and black hair fell away to find Daisy's pale face.

"Hey, you're awake," she stared at him with bedroom eyes, and her mouth in a half smile as she propped her head up with her hand. "Good morning."

"How long was I asleep? Where am I?" Marty looked around the strange room, but the morning light was too dim to make out any useful details other than four walls, a door and furniture.

"Just the night," Daisy leaned back and stretched, letting out a yawn. Marty stared at her dumbfounded, she looked like a centrefold model doing that. He desperately tried pushing that image into the deep recesses of his mind. "We figured you should have a proper bed, so we took you back to the Brown's place. I figured, you being his friend and all, he wouldn't mind."

Marty looked at the bandage around his arm. He could feel the wound hidden underneath, it slowly throbbed with pain, but it was manageable.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine."

"Good. You have to be nice and healthy for time travel."

"What did you say?"

"Your Doctor told me all of his secrets. He owed me one."

"Wait, he told you about the TARDIS?"

"Blue box? Bigger on the inside? It was a hoot."

"He let you inside!"

"Of course, and he told me all about your little intergalactic tour."

"Jesus Doc," he looked worried for a moment. "You didn't see anything… uh, weird, in the TARDIS, did you?"

"You mean weirder than the basis of every concrete fact I ever knew suddenly becoming essentially useless?"

"Uh…"

"No."

"… Oh good." So long as Daisy hadn't seen Jennifer he might escape this without destroying his timeline… again.

"Either way. I'm glad you're awake, I found something," she walked over to a desk and lifted something thin off of it. She came back and handed an envelope to Marty.

He held it up to the window, squinting at his name scrawled in ink. "I guess he forgot to send it."

"No," Daisy sat back down as Marty saw the seal was broken. He looked at Daisy in mock accusation.

"What? I was bored…"

He opened the letter and read the first few lines.

_Dear Marty-_

_If you're reading this then I was right to plan ahead for this eventuality. As I've been getting closer to building my new time machine, a sensor I had been trying to build began picking up some strange radiation. I have yet to deduce the cause or meaning, but I theorize it is the residue of a search. I grow increasingly paranoid that there may be someone looking for me. It also made me realize there are too many unknowns out here and they must all be planned for!_

Marty smiled, it was good to know one of his doctors thought plans were a good idea.

_I hesitate to give you any sort of concrete schedule, lest this fall into unsavoury hands, not to mention that it's difficult to give you any kind of schedule, what with the temperamental time fluctuations, but I have compiled a list of destinations and time periods Clara, Jules, Verne and I have planned to visit…_

"Thank god his mind comes up with all these crazy precautions…"

Daisy ignored him and leaned forward to put her hand on his. For the first time she didn't look certain. She bit the corner of her bottom lip.

"I have a favour to ask," she looked him intensely in the eyes. "A big favour."

"What is it?" Marty felt nervous.

She took a deep breath. "I need to get out, of here. I keep telling myself I'll make enough money to escape one day, but I know I won't. So help me. Take me with you, I don't mean forever, just to your next stop. As long as I get out of this trap I'm in I know I'll be fine. And then," she smiled as a tear managed to escape her clear eye and roll down her trembling chin, "then I have the whole universe to see, and I'm _so_ ready to see it."

It was unbearable to stare in her eyes, so he looked at her delicate hand, and her thumb gently caressing his skin.

If Daisy left, if Daisy had the life she had always dreamed of and wanted, Jennifer would never be born… And if Daisy stayed, and spent the rest of her life suffering, Jennifer would be. How could he ask this woman to give up her life for a girl she would never even meet?

"It's not my decision."

"I know. I asked the Doctor myself when he was giving me my money. He gave me 10 whole dollars, you know, and I realized I'd never actually held that much money before, and in a month it'll probably be gone. It made me realize how trapped I was. So I asked, and he froze, like he wanted to say yes but he couldn't. He ran off before I really had a chance. That's why you need to-" Marty started pulling away when Jennifer grabbed his hand with both of hers and their eyes locked. "I need you to convince him. I need you to help me. To save me! Please… save me Marty McFly."

"Okay," Marty freed his hand from her grip. "I'll go and speak with him. I just need…" he went to pull the covers off himself when the brightening light revealed his clothes hanging up on the other side of the room. "I just need some privacy, to get dressed."

"Okay," she smiled, then leaned forward and hugged him, kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

She got up and left Marty alone, and for a minute he just sat there in stunned silence. Finally he managed to drag himself to Doc Brown's desk and he sat down to write a letter. When he was finished he got dressed and walked out to the TARDIS which the Doctor had moved to the back yard of Doc Brown's house.

The Doctor was standing by the consol and looked up when Marty walked in.

"Well you're up bright and early."

"Yeah, crazy dreams kept me up," he took a step forward, sternly closing the door behind him. "Hey, listen Doc, we gotta take off fast."

"Why? What's the matter?"

"We got to get out of here before Daisy finds out we're leaving."

"Oh," the Doctor looked away. "Right, well I guess we best be going."

"We're doing the right thing, right Doc?"

The Doctor looked up at Marty. "What matters is that it's what has to be done," he slapped his hand down, hitting a lever, and the TARDIS breathed out of time.

OOO

Daisy heard the noise, the strange husking wheezing of the TARDIS. She ran to the window and saw the TARDIS dissolve into nothing.

"No," she choked, then hiked her skirt as she ran down the stairs to catch them. She threw open the door, just in time to see the last blink of blue light and then – storm clouds building in the atmosphere, an oncoming storm, and Daisy was alone.

She didn't say another word, or scream or cry, instead she turned around and walked back inside. There, on the kitchen table, she saw a sealed envelope sitting on the table. For a moment she was too angry to open it, she wanted to tear it up and throw the pieces onto the fire, but she pushed the urge away and walked up to the table, opening the letter.

_Daisy-_

_I know you're angry with me right now, and believe me when I say that you deserve to be angry at me. I wish I were better at letters. The truth is you can't come with us, because one day you're going to have a son, and eventually a great-granddaughter. If you left, that might change and never happen._

_I'm sorry this isn't fair, but Daisy, you can still get away from this life you're in. You're the strongest woman I've ever met, and you shouldn't be afraid to go out and live your life (just, you have to do it in your own time, on your own planet)._

_Please take care of yourself, not for your unborn kids' sake, but for your sake and for the people who love you._

Daisy paused a moment, then tore up the letter – she didn't, however, throw it in the flames.

**To Be Continued in: Zombie in Z Minor**

(Oops, sorry this is a little lake. Essay + Pokémon White = Forgetfulness. Anyway… So if you've been reading these comments you'll know the original ending had a very different mood, i.e. happy. Basically when I wrote the outline I hadn't figured Daisy's character out, and once I had I knew she was the kind of person who would go off with the Doctor and whom the Doctor would be pleased to have along for the ride – but she's one person who can't. I wanted Marty to have to make a rather difficult decision, essentially choosing between Daisy and Jennifer. If only Marty could realize Daisy's the way better choice – if only because she has use of her motor skills. Also: trying to write a fever dream is fun! Hello free-floating consciousness! I tried not to make the dream too long, but hopefully it was confusing, Freudian and maybe even uncomfortable for your mind to process – as fever dreams always are.)


End file.
